For years, megasonic energy has been used in manufacturing and processing plants to clean and/or otherwise process objects within liquids. It is well known that objects may be efficiently cleaned or processed by immersion in a liquid and subsequent application of megasonic energy to the liquid. Prior art megasonic systems include transducers, built by bonding piezoelectric ceramics to radiating membranes such as quartz, sapphire, stainless steel, titanium, tantalum, boron nitride, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, aluminum and ceramics, and generators designed to stimulate the transducers at a resonant or antiresonant frequency. The transducers are mechanically coupled to a tank containing a liquid that is formulated to clean or process the object of interest. The amount of liquid is adjusted to partially or completely cover the object in the tank, depending upon the particular application. When the transducers are stimulated by the output signal from the generator to spatially oscillate, they transmit megasonics into the liquid, and hence to the object. The interaction between the megasonic-energized liquid and the object creates the desired cleaning or processing action.
However, prior art megasonic systems lack optimum performance, are expensive and sometimes cause damage to the parts being cleaned or processed. The present invention improves performance of megasonic systems, reduces cost and minimizes damage caused by intense megasonic sound energy.